Somers was with Dodd now up on the raised platform ready for the briefing when she tapped her Commbadge and had it patched into the Starbase and Tomcats speakers.

=/\= Would all crew of the Tomcat report to Briefing Room One on the Starbase in ten minutes, we have another mission to attend, ALL crew must be there, Captain Somers out =/\= she closed the line and began to prepare things for the briefing, Dodd was silent, it would be his first time up in front of their peers answering questions, should they be thrown at him.

=/\=On my way, Captain =/\= K'Muss said. oO Question is, do I remember the way? Oo he thought, letting a chuckle out. He zipped up his uniform and headed on up to the briefing room. He entered a turbolift, and within a few minutes, he was there. He nodded to the CO and Lieutenant Dodd

=/\=Acknowledged, Sterling out!=/\=, Maia said heading to the briefing room.

Sometime later Maia entered the briefing room and took a seat.

=/\=Understood, Captain.=/\= Taggert said as she got up from the bench she had on the botanical garden on the large nature reserve on the Starbase. The room was several acres in size, and tall enough that the oak trees could reach up pretty tall, and they had even put a holo generator to simulate the environment of Earth around 30 N and 81 W, about 78° F on the old scale. Freshly mown St Augustine grass crunched under her bare feet as she had walked into the garden and she enjoyed the stream running through with short stone balustrades on either side, stone bridges over the stream, and fish swimming through. It was a nice change of pace from the holodeck versions which could sometimes seem too perfect. It was perfect in its own imperfection.

oO Time to head back to work, Oo she thought, as she put on her socks and boots, and stood up, grabbing her uniform tunic and jacket. She had only the tank top undershirt on to enjoy the simulated sun, if only for a few moments. She zipped up and tucked in the tunic, then clasped the jacket closed, before putting her hair up in a ponytail to leave. She took a moment to look around, smiled, took a deep breath and sighed, and left. Not seven minutes later, she was in the briefing room as ordered, holding an old book in her hand, an heirloom from her family that she had been reading in the botanical garden.

She walked in and was soon joined by K'Muss and Sterling, and the rest of the crew.

Holosuite #1 changing room:

Eleonorrhea was now dirty, bloody, and smelling of salt water, sweat and grime, and after eight hours without eating; inside the Holodeck she just completed playing an infantry Marine captain in the 2/2nd Rgt, 2nd MARDIV, that was in the first wave to assault the beaches of Tarawa Atoll during WWII. Having to jump out of her Amphibious vehicle after it got stuck on the beach, her company began suffering massive casualties during the first five minutes after landing on the beaches; and now pinned down the Marines were stacked up against one another behind a long man-made pier built out of coconut trees, metal rebar, sand, and other things that the 4500 well armed, and well defended Japanese had prepared for.

Eleonorrhea just watched around her as her Marines were getting cut down from the Japanese defenders. Running for cover with the rest of her company Eleonorrhea managed to dodge flying artillery shells, but was nailed numerous times by machine fire, shot at close range by the Japanese, and almost beheaded by a Japanese officer.

Luckily this was a Holodeck with safeguards to protect the person using it. The last artillery explosion had tossed her high up in the air and when she came down, she landed in front of a Japanese officer who automatically pulled out his Samurai sword, and swung at her neck. As Elenorrhea looked up at the Japanese soldier who had completed the act, and then he looked surprised oO I wonder what's going through his head as he swung the blade and it just passed through my neck Oo as Eleonorrhea simply pulled out her 45 caliber pistol, emptying the entire magazine into the Japanese soldiers body; watching it rip through his vital organs, making bigger holes as it went on out .

Suddenly her Comm badge began to buzz, just as a Japanese Banzai charge was now beginning to form...

=/\=Understood Captain, Delfin out=/\=

Shouting over the din of the battle, Eleanorrhea said Computer "halt"... Save Simulation #456-7NV18.TARAWA ATOLL Suddenly the entire Atoll disappeared along with Japanese and the Marines, and Eleonorrhea was now standing inside a massive empty Holodeck suite, heading out the door.

oO I wonder what's up with the skipper; maybe she's decided to extend shore leave Oo thought Eleonorrhea who was inside the dressing room of Holodecks costume division. Quickly removing her bloody, blood and gore soaked Marine Uniform, she gave it back to the young woman who was manning the Holodecks costume section. Taking a quick sonic shower, she put on her Marine work uniform, and once she was presentable, she took the first unmanned Turbolift and said "Captains Briefing Room".

As Eleonorrhea walked into the briefing room, she saw K'Muss who was deep in thought as he sat there in the back of the room doing what she thought Caitains did when they're waiting for further orders. There was a blond LtJG who looked to be in her early 20's along with several crewmen all engrossed in a private conversation, and oblivious to Eleonorrhea walking into the briefing room.

Walking into the room, Elonorrhea had seen every conceivable briefing room set up since she had joined the Marines. This one was no different, the highly cleaned carpet with the seal of the USS Tomcat embroidered into grey, green, red and gold that was set up like most of the ones she has seen, plus there was the large 3-dimensional colour relief seal of the 95th Marines on the wall. Plus there were several older pictures of officers reviving awards, and what looked like promotions from Marine Generals in the past.

While on the opposite wall were five pictures with each ringing the picture of the President of the UFP. The Federation Secretary of Defense, Mrs Melissa J. Oppenheimer; Fleet Admiral, Admiral Francisco J. Kidd; Commander of Starfleet, Admiral Nesbit J. Tribble; and the picture of the outgoing Commandant of the Marine Corp, General, Sir Edward J. Tudor IV.

In the back were chairs for guests and other crewmen. In the middle of the room was a large oval table, with six high back chairs for what would be seating for all Department Heads on the ship.

On the middle of the table was the latest state of the art mass conferencing technology, and at the front of the briefing room was a very large floor to ceiling monitor, that was approximately 10-20 feet wide. flanking both sides of the monitor was the Federation Flag, the Flag and just off to its right was the flag of the 95th Rifles, with hundreds of streamers signifying important battles the 95th had been in hanging from the tip of the spear-like pole.

Not saying anything, Eleonorrhea just nodded at K'Muss as she went to the rear of the room which had a food/drink replicator. Hungry from her simulated battle, Eleonorrhea ordered a cup of hot and spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate, laced with Cayenne pepper; and a plate of hot buttered crescent rolls.

In a matter of seconds, at the bottom of the food replicator was her order. Taking the two hot items out of the replicator and holding them gingerly; Eleonorrhea made her way to one of several large round tables, set up at the rear of the conference room. Pulling out her PADD, Eleonorrhea set it down on the table and activated the pause button. Seeing that the other people besides K'Muss were at other tables, Eleonorrhea sat alone by herself enjoying the chance to relax without having to make small chit-chat with people she did not know just yet. And now enjoying her meal, Eleonorrhea watched the door to see who else would be coming in.

Dr Cahill was in the Starbase Sickbay, she hit her Comm Badge. =/\= On my way Captain =/\= She left and went to the Briefing Room. As she entered she got a hot coffee and some snacks. She took her assigned seat and waited for the others to arrive.

She looked over and smiled at Elonorrhea. "Welcome to the Tomcat. I look forward to serving with you. I am Dr Alexanderia Cahill CMO/ 2XO on the Tomcat" Cahill said.

Eleonorrhea with her mouth full of the last bite of her crescent roll and coffee was now trying to say something, but what came out was a strange muffled..."mmmmmffffff you mmffddde Sir" as she tried hard to swallow the food as fast as she can. With a pained look in her eyes she managed to swallow the bolus of soft food, and now after clearing her throat, Eleonorrhea said "thank you, ma'am"

Now standing up, Eleonorrhea said "Ma'am" "I'm 1st Lieutenant Eleonorrhea Delfin, but most officers just call me "Butch and I'm the ships new Marine Commanding Officer. I hope to be working closely with the command staff on any issues that require my Marines...Ma'am".

As all the officers began gathering, from a back room Somers and Dodd came out and began setting up the stuff ready for the briefing, she hoped Dodd would keep it together, but no doubt he would return straight back to his engines the first chance he got.

Dr Cahill smiled"Enjoy the snacks, I like them too. And I do have a lot going with the Marines here on the Tomcat. Seems like even in training you Marines find a way to get hurt.

And in a crunch on a mission, I really like having the Marines around.

Eleonorrhea who was now relaxing getting her PADD ready for the briefing heard the comment, and being the ships newbie MCO didn't know whether to take this as a compliment or a friendly insult, so she just clammed up, and continued to drink her coffee, and on an occasion simply nod to the now ever-expanding number of people now coming into the Briefing room.